Low rail joint recorder



Oct. 13,v v1931.

L. F. CARTER LOW RAIL JOINT RECORDER FiledApril 9, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheer l lglmmu INVENTOR ,7 ,esZze afzer.

I7 l BY A Oct. 13, 1931. L.. FjcARTl-:R

`LOW RAIL JOINT RECORDER Filed April 9, 1929 2 Sheeis-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 13, 1931 4UNITED STATES l ltsr/3194i PATENT oFFl-CE LESLIE F. CARTER, 0F LEONIA, NEW JERSEY, .ASSIGNOR BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 SPERRY PRODUCTS, INC., OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION 0F NEW YORK LOW RAIL JOINT RECORDER Application led April 9,' 1929. Serial No. 353,805.

This invention relates to means for testing rail joints to discover low rail joints when said rails are subjected to normal axle loads and impact under all conditions and rates of train movements.

The invention may be applied upon rail cars having either two-axle or three-axle trucks, but is especially suitable for the more Vcommon two-axle truck where it is imposbe employed to furnish an anchorage or baseline from which the Wheel drop at rail joints may be measured. v L

Another object of this invention is to provide a low rail joint recorder wherein a full scale indication of drop of the axle or wheel Vat a joint may be recorded. For this purpose I employ a Bowden wire connection between the low rail joint responsive device and the indicator.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a low rail joint recorder whose sensitivity may be adjusted to varying conditions of operation, such as, varying speed of the car upon which said recorder is mounted.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent in the following detailed description thereof:

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation' of a portion of a car truck showing my invention applied to oneof the car axles.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the'Fig. 1 form of my invention.

Fig. 3 is a planview showing a modified foilm of mounting my recorder on the car ax e.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the lowrail joint responsive mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a bottom view of the Aair valve mechanism of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the bottom of the inertia member of the Fig. 4 device.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the form of i mounting disclosed in Fi 3. y

Fig. 8 is a plan view o a recorder for recording the low rail joints and means for adj usting the sensitivity ofthe recorder.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive and Fig. 7 of the drawings, I have disclosed several means of mounting my invention upon a car truck. In the Figs. 1 and 2 form it will be observed that the casing 10 enclosing the low rail joint responsive mechanism is fixed by suitable brackets 11--12 to the axle housing 13 so as to move therewith in response to variations in elevation at the rail joints. In the Figs. 3 and 7 form of the invention, thev casing 10 is shown as mounted within a clamp rin 15 formed integral with an extension 16 fixe to the axleliousing 13. The casing l10 may be fixed in position within ring 15 by means such as adjusting screws 17.

In either of the above forms of mounting it will be observed that the casing 10 moves with the car axle'housing in' response to variations in elevation at the rail joints. In order to provide a baseline with reference to which the movements of the casing 1() may be measured to. give a measurement of the variations in elevation at the rail joints, I may provide a relatively heavy mass 20 suspended within the casing 104 from a suitable support, such as 21, by means such as a plurality of springs 22 connected at one end to the support 21 and at their other end to brackets 23 connected to the mass 20 at a point adjacent the lower end of the said mass. The tension of springs 22 is such that normally the lower surface of the mass 25 just its initial position except in the case when the low rail joint is of exce )tional magnitude and unusual duration. uitable provision has been made, as will hereinafter be described, to take care of this latter contingency.

In order to measure the relative movement that takes place between easing lOand the inertia mass 20, I provide means whereby an actual full scale indication of the movement of casing l() with Vrespect to its mass may be obtained. For this purpose I provide a Bowden wire comprising an inner wire 30 and outer easing 31, the said casing being fixed at its outer end to a bracket 32 while the outer end of the wire 30 is connected to a pen arm 35 having a recording pen 36 in contact with a chart normally moving longitudinally in the direction of the arrow 37. The inner end of the Bowden casing 31 is connected to the mass at 40, while the :wire extends through said casing and through the mass to a point of connection with the casing l0 at point 42. It is now apparent that whenever relative movement takes place between the casing and the mass, the wire 30 is moved through casing 31 to cause actuation of pointer 35 to make indications, such as 38, at the rail joints. I may provide a tensioning spring 50 to take up any slack in the Bowden wire connection between the casing 10 and the indicator. The said spring 50 serves also for the purpose of varying the sensitivity of response of the low rail joint responsive mechanism, since a greater tension of spring 50 upon the indicator 35 means that there will be less response to small changes in elevation at the rail joint and that the responsive mechanism will respond only to correspondingly larger variations in level at the joints while correspondingly diminishing the tension of spring 50 will make the device more sensitive to slight variations in elevation at the joints. I may provide an adjusting member 51 in the form of a pulley to which one end of spring 50 is connected and provided with a handle 52 so that said pulley may be rotated in one'direction or the other about pivot 53 to increase or decrease the tension of spring 50 and hence the sensitivity of the low rail joint responsive mechanism. In connection with this adjustment I may form the handle 52 as an indicator operating over a scale 55 which may be calibrated in any desired manner, but since for the most part the desired sensitivity is inversely as the speed of the car, I may calibrate said scale in speed of miles per hour.

Then the rail joint is unusually low so that the time for a complete oscillation of casing 10 downwardly and then upwardly is longer than usual, it may be found that this elapsed time is sufficient to permit the mass 2O to overcome its inertia and start downwardly. The result of this condition will be that before casing 10 reaches its original position it will strike the inertia mass on its lower surface 25 a severe blow and send the mass upwardly at a rapid rate and much beyond its original position so that an incorrect indication of the indicator 35 will be obtained. To obviate such a condition I provide the following mechanism: IVithin base 26 I provide an opening 58 and close said opening normally by means of a valve 59 held upwardly against its seat by means such as a spring 60. Said spring serves also to permit a lag inthe movements of weight 6a.l Fixed to the bottom of base 26 I may provide a lever 61 pivoted at 62 having one end 63 in engagement with the valve stem and the other end 64 in the form of an inertia mass. Adjacent the bottom of the inertia mass 20 I may provide a leather washer 65 having a flange 66 normally located in a eut-out portion 67 at the lower end of the mass. Fluted portion 68 may be provided adjacent the lower end of the inertia mass 20.

The operation of the mechanism described in the preceding paragraph is as follows: lVhen a normal low rail joint is encountered, ycasing 10 descends leaving inertia mass 64 behind which causes valve 59 to be opened to allow air to pass freely through opening 58 into cylinder 27 and past the fluted portions 68 without obstruction. When the casing l0 ascends, inertia mass 64 will descend to yclose valve 59 and the trapped air passes freely past the flexible flange 66 and through the tluted portion 68. In the case, however, where the low rail joint is of exceptional magnitude and the inertia mass 20, therefore, has an opportunity to begin its descent, it will be met by the casing l0 on the upward movement of the latter. On such upward movement as above explained, valve 59 is closed and as soon as inertia mass 20 engages base block 26 it will be given an upward thrust which will immediately create suction sufficiently to expand flexible flange 66 into firm engagement with the walls of cylinder 27 and thus provide a powerful means for locking the inertia mass 20 to the base 26 and hence to the casing 10 to cause said mass and casing to move upwardly together at the same rate to initial position. If this action did not take place, then, as stated hereinbefore, the contact of base 26 with the mass would give it a powerful upward thrust that would send it beyond its initial position and yield an incorrect indication at the indicator.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have herein described the principle and operation of my invention, together with the apparat-us which Il now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means. Also, while it is designed to use the various features and elements i'n the combination and relations described, some of these maybe altered and others omitted without interfering with the more general results out-x lined, and the invention extends to such use.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1s:

1. 'In a. low rail joint recorder, a member movable in response to differences in elevation at rail joints, a vertically movable and yieldably supported inertia member relative to which said first member operates, said first,

member being adapted to return to initial position after responding to a low rail joint,

and means for locking said inertia member tosaid responsive member when said responsive member contacts with said inertia member before reaching the initial position.

2. In alow rail joint recorder, a member movable in response to differences in elevation at rail joints, a vertically movable and yieldably supported inertia member relative to which said first member operates, said first member being adaptedto return to initial f. position after responding to a low rail joint,

and suction means for locking said inertia member to said responsive member wheny said responsive member contacts with said inertia member before reaching the initial positionu 3. In a low rail joint recorder, a member movable in response to differences in elevation at rail joints, a vertically movable and yieldabiy supported inertia mem'ber relative i fore said responsive'member contacts with said inertia member, and means for closing said passage after said Contact.

4. In a low rail jointrecorder, a member movable in. response to differences in elevation atrail joints, a vertically movable and yieldably supported inertia member relative to which said first member operates, said first member being adapted to return to initial positi on after responding to a low rail joint, andr means for locking said inertia member to said responsive member when said responsive member contacts with said inertia member before reaching the, initial position, said lasttween saidmembers, means permitting free movement of air through said passage before said responsive member contacts with said inertia member, and means including a ilexible closing means carried by said inertia member and adapted to close said passage after contact.

`5. In a low rail joint recorder, a member movable in response to differences in elevation at rail joints, a vertically movable and yieldably supported inertia member relative to which said first member operates, said rst member being adapted to return to initial position after respondin to a low rail joint, and suction means for ocking said inertia member to said responsive member when said responsive member contacts with said inertia member before reaching the initialposition, said-last-named means including an air passage between said members, means for closing one end of said passage on the return stroke of said responsive member, and means for closing the other end of said passage after contact between said members.

6. In a low rail joint recorder, a member movable in response to differences in elevation at rail joints, a vertically movable and yieldably supported inertia member relative,

to which said first member operates, said first member being adapted to return to initial position after responding to a low .rail joint and suction means for locking said inertia member to said responsive member when said responsive member contacts with said inertia member before reaching the initial position, said last-named means including an air passage between said members, a valve carried by said responsive member for closing one end of said passage on the return stroke of said responsive member, and a flexible closing means for closing the other end of said passageafter contact between said members.

'7. In a low rail joint recorder, a member movable in `response to diii'erences in elevation at rail joints,a` vertically movable and 'yieldably supported inertia member relative to which said yfirst member operates, said first member being adapted to return to initial position yafterresponding to a low rail oint, and suction means for ocking said inertia member to said responsive member when said responsive member contacts with said inertia member before reaching the initial position, said last-named means including an air passage between said members, an inertia operated valve carried by said responsive member for closing one end ci said passage on the return stroke 'of said responsive member, and Iva flexible closing means for closing the other end of said .passage after contact between said members.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my LESLIE F. CARTER.

signature.

named means including an air passage be- 

